Amnesty International called on Friday for the government of Bangladesh to indefinitely halt executions and to begin discussions about abolishing the death sentence. The organization stated that the government should evaluate the cases of individuals sentenced to death and commute their sentences. Alternatively, it was suggested that the government should provide a fair retrial without resorting to the death penalty.

Chiara Sangiorgio, Amnesty International’s death penalty expert, stated “We condemn the recent executions and the persistent use of the death penalty in Bangladesh. It shows the Government’s continued callous disregard for the right to life. The death penalty is never the solution.”

Late night executions of two men, Mia Mohammad Mohiuddin and Jahangir Alam, at Rajshahi Central Jail on Thursday prompted Amnesty International’s stance on the matter. The court found the two men guilty of the murder of Rajshahi University Professor; Prof S Taher Ahmed and sentenced them to death. This came after another execution in February, in which the court found a man guilty of murder and executed him in Kashimpur Central prison.

The death penalty in Bangladesh applies for capital offences such as murder. However, several non-fatal offences also attract the death penalty, including drug offences under the Narcotics Act and single perpetrator rape under the recently amended Suppression of Violence against Women and Children Act, also warrant the death penalty.

Amnesty International reported that between January 2018 and December 2022, at least 13 people were put to death. According to the report, the court sentenced over 2,000 people to death as of December 2022. Amnesty International demanded in its proposal to the 44th session of the Universal Periodic Review that the death penalty be limited to capital offences alone until an official moratorium on executions was established. This is in anticipation of the death penalty’s eventual elimination in Bangladesh.